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The dominantideologythesis*
ABSTRACT
In Capital,
Marxstatesthat
the mode of productionof materiallife dominatesthe development
of social, politicaland intellectuallife generally. . . is very true for
our own times,in whichmaterialinterestspreponderate,but not for
the middleages, in which Catholicism,nor for Athensand Rome,
wherepolitics,reignedsupreme.9
This observationby Marx has been elaboratedby Marxistslike
Althusserand Poulantzasl°to meanthat the economicbasedetermines
whichstructure(politics,ideologyor the economic)in any givenmode
of productionis dominant.Elriefly,
thisview of politicaland ideological
structuresmeansthat certainmodesof productionmay requirefunc-
tionalsupportfrom'non-economicfactors'.In feudalism,for example,
wherepeasantsby customaryrighthave eertainprivilegesoverthe use
of land, extra-economicmeans (political/ideologicalstructures)are
requiredin orderto extractlabour-service fromthe peasantry.Hence,
Poulantzaswantsto arguethat religionwas a dominantregionof the
ideologicalstructurein societiescharacterizedby the feudal mode of
production.This theory would imply, in terms of the 'rulingideas'
model, that the peasantrysharedthe religionof feudal lords or, to
employa term favouredby Poulantzas,the peasantrywere 'contami-
nated' by the ideology of the landlordswith the effect that their
revolutionaryinterestswere impeded.
In general,thereare good groundsfor believingthat the European
peasantryexistedoutsidethe ambitof thedominantChristianorthodoxy
of the Churchas a rulinginstitution.The peasantryweresymbolically
separatedfrom the oflicial mysteriesof the Churchby the liturgical
rituals;whereasin the early Churchthe priesthad celebratedMass
facingthepeople,in the medievalperiod
he turnedhis back on them and retreatedto the fastnessesof the
sanctuary,separatedfrom the people's part of the Church by a
forbiddingscreen.Finally,the Masswas readin a tonguethe people
could not understand.ll
On the faceof it, the developmentof the confessional
in the thirteenth
eenturyas a public, compulsoryobligationon all believersunderthe
monopolyof the Churchwhichdistributedgracefromthe Treasuryof
Merit,wouldlooklikestrongevidencefor 'therulingideas'model.The
problemis that, while the peasantryprobablyonly attendeda short
shrifton majorand minorfestivalsand while absenteeismwas rife,the
nobilityhad spiritualdirectorsin constantattendance.It would seem
odd that the dominantclassshouldbe more plaguedby problemsof
guilt and conformitythan the dominatedclasses.Some doctrinesin
secularas well as religioususe, mightalsobe seenas candidatesfor the
functionof the dominantideology.The 'GreatChainof Being',l2for
The dominant
ideologythesis I55
AN ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION ?
NOTES
* This paper was first presentedat a analysis of alienation. This issue is
seminarin the Departmentof Sociology separate from the class analysis of
at the Universityof Lancaster.We are ideology. For a discussion of the
grateful to the participants of that appearance/realityissue cf. Norman
seminar,especiallyJohn Urry, for their Geras'Essenceand Appearance:Aspects
helpfulcomments. of FetishismMarx's Capital';NewLeft
I. In this paper we wish to avoid Review,no. 65, January-FebruaryI 9 7I,
confrontingthe specifictheoreticaldiffi- pp. 6945.
culties which are associatedwith the 2. K. Marx, TheEighteenth Brumaireof
technical distinction between 'com- LouisBonaparte, in Marx,K. and Engels,
petitivecapitalism'and 'monopolycapi- F., Selected Works, London,Lawrenceand
talism'. For an account of the Wishart,I 968,pp. I I 7-I 8.
competitive/monopolydistinction, cf. 3. K. Marx and F. Engels, The
Nicos Poulantzas,(Classesin ContemporaryGerman Ideology,London, Lawrenceand
London:NLB, I975, pp. I34 Wishart,I974, p. 64.
(Capitalism,
Ef.The terms'early'and 'late capitalism' 4. F. Engels, 7CheConditionof the
are descriptivecategorieswhich referto Working ClassinEnglandin s844, London,
changesin the organizationof capitalism AllenandUnwin, I 968,p. I 24
in GreatBritainsuchas the separationof 5. Ta]cott Parsons,The SocialSystem,
ownershipand control,the concentration London,Routledge& KeganPaul, I 95I,
of capitalistproductionand the crucial pp. 95I ff.
role of the state in economicorganiza- 6. For example,K. T. Erikson,Way-
tion. We also deliberatelyignorethe set wardPuritans,New York,Wiley, I966.
of issues which are raised in Marx's 7. For a recent analysis, cf. Jurgen
treatmentof ideologyby the distinction Habermas, Legitimation Crisis,London,
between reality/appearance in the Heinemann,I976.
I68 ;&icholas andBryanS. furner
Abercrombie
35. For a briefdiscussionof the levels 45. Barry Hindess and Paul Q. Hirst,
of literacyof varioussectorsof societyin Pre-Capitalist
ModesofProduction,London,
medieval Europe, cf. J. Curran,'Mass Routledge & Kegan Paul, I 975,
Communicationas a social force in pp . I-9 O.
history', being Unit 2 of The Open 46. Some features of the epistemo-
University'Mass Communicationsand logical problems relating to the notion of
Society Course', Milton Keynes, The concrete social formations and theory in
Open UniversityPress,I977. sociology and Marxism are discussed in
36. John Wakeford, The CloisteredBryan S. Turner, 'The structuralist
Elite, London, Macmillan, I 969. N. critique of Weber's sociology', British
Abercrombie,et al., The University in the Journalof Sociology,
vol. 28, I 977, pp.
UrbanEnvironment, London,Heinemann I-I5.
EducationalBooks,I974. 47. For a recent discussion of the
I 7o J%icholas
Abercrombie
andBryanS. furner
relationship between the family and presentedin EdwardWagenknect(ed.),
capitalist relations of production, cf. Chaucer:ModernEssaysin Criticism,New
E. Zaretsky, Capitalism, TheFamily,and York,GalaxyBooks,I959.
Personal Life,London, Pluto Press, I976. 49. For a discussionof My SecretLife
48. The complex secular and religious and other aspects of Victorian porno-
dimensions of Courtly Love poetry are graphy, cf. Steven Marcus, The Other
discussed in C. S. Lewis, TheAllegory of Victorians,London, Weidenfeld and
Love,London, OUP, I938, ch. I Further Nicolson,I966.
commentaries on this problem are 50. Pearsall,op. cit., p. 507.